Herro ball put on backburner as Heat deal with shortages
In a perfect world, Tyler Herro has proven perfectly suited to a role as Miami Heat sixth man, having set several franchise records this season when cast as such.
But in this imperfect world of COVID absences, Erik Spoelstra’s coaching hand largely has been dictated to the precious few available.
Lately, that has meant Herro starting alongside Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry. And that has meant playing less as a bucket, and at times more deferential. Sunday’s 115-113 loss to the Sacramento Kings was such an example, when Herro was scoreless on 0-for-6 shooting in the first quarter, before coming around to close with 22 points when otherwise playing in staggered lineups.
“Just getting used to it, playing with both those guys at the same time, and just trying to figure out times when to be aggressive on the ball and then other times when I’m a spacer and I just stick on the 3-point line and give Jimmy and Kyle space to do their thing,” Herro said, with the Heat turning their attention to Monday night’s game against the Golden State Warriors at the Chase Center.
“I feel like I can do both on or off the ball, so just being able to be confident whatever those guys need.”
The Heat have been in similar situations previously, when, despite thriving with the second unit, Goran Dragic was called upon by Spoelstra to start amid absences elsewhere in the rotation.
Now, with Dragic dealt in the offseason to the Toronto Raptors in the sign-and-trade transaction for Lowry, it has been Herro who has thrived in reserve.
Or had been.
“Just trying to give everything we have in that first unit until we get our guys back,” Herro said, “so we can get back to our normal rotations.”
For, now, though, amid the shortage of available players, 10-day addition Kyle Guy has moved into that role as sixth-man scorer, with Lowry left to try to make it work with the new faces.
“Make it simple,” Lowry said of working with recent arrivals who essentially are wearing name tags. “I think we’ll figure it out. I think we ran a lot of double drags with Kyle handling the ball and me setting first [screen]. We got out, we just make it work.
“Those guys that are coming on these 10 days, those guys are trying to make a name for themselves, but these guys can play basketball. We’re just giving them the confidence to do what they can do.”
Another step
Teammates said a more aggressive Omer Yurtseven has led to a more productive Yurtseven, with the rookie center emerging with a career-high 22 points and career-high 16 rebounds in Sunday’s loss.
“I think he’s just getting more confident,” Lowry said, with Yurtseven filling in for sidelined Bam Adebayo and Dewayne Dedmon. “I think the confidence that he’s gaining by playing more minutes and getting the experience and getting the repetitions on the floor, understanding what we want him to do, pick, roll, be big, rebound the ball, he’s gonna get shots.
“We have enough players to get him easy looks. His next thing is just continue to get better, continue to get more physical and on the defensive end, just get stronger.”
Butler said the improvement has been tangible.
“He’s getting more and more comfortable every game that he plays,” Butler said. “I feel like the game’s slowing down a lot more for him now. He’s picking and choosing his spots very wisely. He’s rolling hard, popping, getting in the right spots when he needs to.
“He’s been a monster for us lately.”